Ruben Fleischer To Direct Movie About 90-Year-Old Drug Mule

Gangster Squad helmer Ruben Fleischer has been tapped to direct the story of Leo Sharp, the Indiana man who this year was caught running drugs for Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and was sent to the slammer at age 90. An award-winning horticulturist and decorated WWII veteran known for his prized day lilies, Sharp was busted by the feds in 2011 while hauling $3 million in cocaine down the Michigan interstate in his Lincoln pickup truck. He had been one of the cartel’s most prolific drug couriers.

Imperative Entertainment acquired rights to Sam Dolnick’s NYT Magazine article on Sharp, “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule.” They’re looking for a writer to tell the story of how the ex-war hero was tracked down by DEA agents who only had the nickname Tata, or Grandfather, to work with. Sharp’s lawyers convinced a jury his dementia sent him on the wrong path and he got three years.